Forecastle Fest 2015 will happen on July 17–19, 2015, at Waterfront Park, Weekend passes go on sale this Friday, January 30, at noon ET. Details and the lineup at ForecastleFest.com.
Here’s the poster for the first wave of 2015 Forecastle Fest artists

If jambands and screaming rockers aren’t to your taste, then perhaps a bit of bro-country (which is just to the right of rock), courtesy of singer-songwriter Chase Rice will suit you. Rice has not quite achieved the level of fame that he clearly seeks (he was a contestant on Survivor: Nicaragua, where was a runner-up.), though he’s made a pretty good start at it: he scored a bit of songwriting success with “Cruise,” which Georgia-Florida Line released and the first single, “Ready Set Roll” from his new record, Ignite The Night, reeleased this August, went gold, while Ignite the Night debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Country Album Chart. It’s also the name of the tour. He’s now three albums into a country music career, with Country As Me and Dirt Road Communion released in 2011 and 2012, respectively. Should he be able to continue the string, he might be playing Yum! next, so if you’re a fan, head on down to the Mercury Ballroom on Saturday, November 28 and see what you think of his live show. Tickets are $20 adv plus fees.

Pam Tillis kicks off her “Pam Tillis & Friends: A Kentucky Christmas Dinner Show” in the Archibald Cochren Room at the Galt House on November 15. The show runs through December13. Tillis has done this before, a few years back, so it must assumed that there is an audience. The shows will feature country singing of traditional Christmas songs, plus a dinner of raised beef, mashed potatoes and gravy with gingerspiced pumpkin cake for dessert. Tillis, of course, has a considerable history in country music, starting with the fact that she’s the daughter of country singer Mel Tillis. She recorded a number of albums, (“My Vida Loca” was her ony No. 1 hit single), had some television and Broadway roles and recently released an album of duets with Lorrie Morgan, called Grits and Glamour. You can expect a solidly professional show with a few laughs and, no doubt, a lot of smiles. Tickets are $77 adults, $31 for children. Matinees are $63 for adults and $21 for children. A list of showtimes is available at www.christmasatthegalthouse.com/season/

The “duo” of Granger Smith and Earl Dibbles Jr. will saddle up and ride on in to Headliners Music Hall on November 1, there to play a couple of related but differently flavored kinds of music. Granger and his alter ego Dibbles are a couple of good ole boys from Big D, though Granger might be from North Dallas, whereas Earl is definitely from out around Mesquite. There are seven studio albums, with 2013’s Dirt Road Driveway the most successful of the bunch. Smith made the Nashville effort for a few years but now is back in Texas, with a wife and family. It’s a fun show, particularly with the change of persona. Tickets are $13 adv/%15 Dos.

A co-writer of “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk” along with Jamey Johnson and Dallas Davidson, Randy Houser has had a pretty fair start to his performing career, putting his first album, Anything Goes, at No. 1 on the US Heat Seekers chart. His best Country chart album to date is his third, How Country Feels, the title single from which was his first No. 1 on the Airplay Chart, followed by “Runnin’ Outta Moonlight.” He hasn’t yet won any country music awards, though he has been nominated. The Airplay chart will mean he’s familiar to country music fans who listen to WAMZ, so his show at the Iroquois Amphitheater on September 26 should draw a few folks. Tickets run $20-$30.

The September 25 show at KRC Yum! Center will give country fans a bit of the “real” country that so many have been lamenting the loss of on the charts. That would be Dwight Yoakam, of course, who’s not the headliner - Eric Church is, with the Brothers Osborne the third at. Church is a rocker turned country rock singer, which is not too much of a turn these days. He’s touring in support of The Outsiders, his fifth studio album. A winner of several CMA and ACA Awards, he’s currently nominated for Album of The Year for The Outsiders and Song of the Year for “Give Me Back My Hometown.” The Brothers Osborne have a new, just-released EP, Brothers Osborne. Dwight Yoakam is touring in support of 3 Pears, so there’ll be plenty of merch. Tickets run $25 – $59.50 plus fees. UPDATE: Rolling Stone has a new interview with the Brothers Osborne here.

The master of the “Giit-Steel,” Junior Brown, has made Jim Porter’s his venue of choice in the Louisville area for quite some time now, so it’s not really necessary to promote his shows there heavily, as he has an audience when he comes. Even though Brown is an Indiana native, he spent several years playing with Asleep At The Wheel, so his music is drawn from Western Swing, honky-tonk and a bit blues plus some surf guitar. His most recent CD, Volume Ten, is his eleventh studio album (but tenth under his own name) and comes after a seven-year delay. His songs lean to the humorous: “My Wife Thinks You’re Dead” is a classic; the video for the song won the CMA Country Music Video Of The Year Award in 1996. Tickets are $40 front row V.I.P.,$20 guaranteed seating, $15 general concert admission.

Hasn’t Alabama been around playing music since the original hippies were whooping it up in San Francisco? Well, close, since they started a band in 1969, though the name wasn’t adopted until 1977. Their biggest hits happened in the Eighties, which is perfect for most State Fair goers. They also broke up in 2003 and went through some nasty fights over money, before getting back together in 2011 for a benefit show. That made them realize that they missed playing, so they put together a Back To The Bowery tour in 2013 and released Alabama & Friends, a tribute album of covers of current songs. For the record, they are the most awarded band in country music with some two hundred plus awards, never mind listing all their No. 1 hits. The current group is minus longtime drummer Mark Herdon, which won’t matter to the fans anxious to see the band after ten years away. They’re playing Freedom Hall on August 16, with Sunny Sweeney opening. Tickets are $35 and $40.

Here’s a mashup pf “Dixieland Delight” and “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” from a recent appearance on The Grand Ole Opry:

This isn’t a Waterfront Wednesday show, unfortunately, this one is a pay-for-it show, but, hey, it’s Willie FreakingNelson, the genuine musical legend himself, along with the altogether amazing Alison Krauss And Union Station with Jerry Douglas, the fabulous bluegrass singer-songwriter and champion fiddler and her band, a headlining act itself. The Wild Feathers are an up-and-coming Americana band from Nashville that puts this (uncredited) summary on their Facebook page: “They’re like if Led Zeppelin & The Band had a baby in Joshua Tree that grew up listening to Ryan Adams covering the Stones 70’s country influenced songs.” Let’s cut to the chase: this is a show for acoustic music fans who like country and bluegrass and all of whom already know these performers and are aware of this show, set for June 6. You either have your tickets already or are just procrastinating in the matter. They are fairly steep for a Waterfront show at $55 adv/ $65 Dos but, hey, it’s Willie Freaking Nelson and Alison Krauss and Jerry Douglas.